Season of Lust
by Hazel Roses
Summary: Kiba's insatiable cravings were getting on his nerves, but finally there was one girl who he didn't want to just be intimate with. Unfortunately, getting her to commit her life completely to him as his mate would prove harder than he thought. As time goes on, the two begin to form a relationship, but someone watches from the shadows, planning to stop them...no matter what the cost.
1. Chapter 1

**So I accidentally deleted the initial first chapter...and had to write the entire thing over again x_x. Suggestion to all writers: when switching computers, back up your stories onto your new laptop. Also pay more attention when editing chapters =/. What is worse is I had been working on it at work, but they made it so you couldn't access your documents on any computer so I couldn't find it, but I found it a month later on some random computer I hadn't worked on in a long time lol.**

**At first this was only meant to be a couple of chapters. I've gotten to seven and still am trying to wrap things up.**

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Kiba paced his room, angrily brushing a clawed hand through his unruly, cinnamon colored tresses. He growled irritably as he moved to the large window in his room, placing both hands on the sill and gazing out at the forestry that surrounded the Inuzuka compound. As he watched the autumn leaves swirling lazily in the gentle breeze, he turned his gaze to the part of his body that refused to go down. Kiba exhaled irritably when at the throbbing sensation he was feeling and at how dangerously hot the room felt.

The dog ninja was in a rut. Every year after the age of eighteen, the members of his clan would have a week out of the year where there sex drives would sky rocket. No matter how many times Kiba was intimate with someone; it was like nothing had happened. He was still horny and there was nothing that would get rid of the heat flooding his body until his rut was over. It gradually decreased, but it was still a sensation that didn't completely go away. Last year, that feisty blonde Ino had been the object of his lust. Kiba took her in any way he could: in the woods, in his room, in her room, even on top of a roof once. Despite the numerous times they had sex, the male was not satisfied.

The only way to stop the ruts from happening was to find a mate. At twenty two years old, the Inuzuka wasn't exactly interested in settling down, but when he thought about it, it wasn't really a bad idea. Kiba already had his years of fucking any girl he wanted and sure he got in her pants at the end of the day, but it wasn't like he actually was interested in being with her. Kiba couldn't remember the last time he actually had a steady girlfriend. It had to be some time in his early teenage years. The only problem was he didn't even have a woman in mind to start dating.

"I'm going to head out Akamaru," the male said looking over at his companion. The large white canine raised his ears.

"Finally can't stand it any longer, huh? Why don't you hump your pillow? I do that all the time and it makes me feel better."

Kiba frowned at Akamaru's words. "It better not have been my pillow!"

Kiba trudged across the wooden floors and hastily grabbed his grey jacket, quickly making a beeline for the front door. He had to get out of the house and find something that could take his mind off of his throbbing erection.

Stepping into the chilly air, the male instantly felt a bit of relief. The wind wasn't blowing hard, but it was sharp and cooling his heated flesh. The sound of the fallen leaves crunching underneath his sandals echoed in Kiba's sharp ears, but he ignored the familiar sound, mulling over the idea of what a mate would be like. He would be with one female for the rest of his life...was that something he really wanted? The idea of having pups from multiple women didn't sound as appealing as it used to. Even still, there wasn't a female he _liked _enough to want as a mate. Ino was just a quick fling, Hinata was like a sister to him, and kunoichi wasn't a popular job among the female population.

The male had already decided that he wanted a ninja for a wife. Kuniochi were strong and there was nothing more attractive than a woman who could protect herself. They were lean, with muscular builds, something that made his blood boil. Civilian women tried to cling to him in the past, but they seemed more attracted to the money ninjas made more than anything. He didn't want a leech or a "stay at home" wife. His mother taught him that if you wanted to eat, you'd better work so he didn't much like the idea of a civilian woman.

Kiba found himself wandering the bustling streets of Konoha. His dark orbs moved over the different vendors attempting to sell their goods. The sound of children laughing as they played in between the stands reached his ears and he chuckled as one of the sale's men shook his fists at the kids. It didn't take long for him to reach the bridge and as he walked across its wide frame, Kiba looked over the almost shoulder high red railing. The water was dark blue and lapping gently at its shores. When it was warmer, he and Akamaru liked to dive into the almost thirteen foot river and catch fish. He actually wouldn't mind doing that now to help with the residual heat that was still coursing through his veins.

The male shinobi focused on trying to ignore the erotic thoughts that were flashing through his mind. He wasn't sure how long he had been walking, but he was interrupted when someone spoke to him.

"Hey Kiba, long time no see."

Kiba snapped out of the x rated fantasies to see a shorter woman standing in front of him. She flashed him a smile, bright emerald green eyes locking with his dark ones. The crisp wind was billowing her long coral hair off to the right and she reached up a petite hand to lock one of the stray tresses behind her left ear. His eyes roamed from her angular face and down her slim figure. He hadn't even thought about this woman when he had been thinking about what girl he could possibly make his. Sakura Haruno was not only beautiful, but she was a strong kuniochi, one who was very capable of taking care of herself. She was intelligent, becoming one of the best medical ninjas in the country.

She was the same age as he was. He could see how much she had grown since their childhood years, appearance similar to that of her teacher, Lady Tsunade. Kiba could honestly say the long pig tails suited her better than the short cut she used to wear before. Why hadn't he noticed she was this gorgeous? Even now, bundled up in a red jacket, cheeks tinted pink from the chilly air, she was gorgeous.

"Kiba!"

Once again, he was yanked out of his thoughts, but this time with a fist to his right arm. "Ow! What was that for?!"

Sakura gazed at him stonily. "I don't like being tuned out Kiba Inuzuka."

_She's feisty too, _Kiba thought as he winced and reached a hand up to rub his abused shoulder. "That's going to leave a mark."

Sakura moved his hand off his arm and held her hand over the injury, hand glowing light green with chakra. "You're such a baby."

Kiba watched intently as his minor wound was healed by her small hands. Wow, she was beautiful. Immediately, his body began to heat up and he shifted his legs to avoid attention being brought to the tent that was forming in his pants. He had never thought about Sakura in that way until he looked at her just now, but was it he wanted to fuck her brains out or actually wanted to get to know her? It had to be both.

"Well I've got to get to work. Don't want to be late coming back from lunch." Sakura turned on her heels and waved. "Bye Kiba!"

Kiba's eyes never left Sakura until she was secured inside the hospital. His mind continued to reel at the thought of her, which caused his body to heat up further. He decided to head to the training ground and blow off some steam. That was always the best thing to do...after exhausting masturbation. The Inuzuka looked down at his companion who was sitting and panting at him. His tail thumped the ground happily.

'"What?" Kiba asked as they began the trip to the training grounds.

"Looks like you're considering Sakura for a possible mate."

Kiba snorted. Sure the Inuzuka had been entertaining the idea, but a mate was permanent. Kiba didn't know if he was ready to settle down, he was still really young after all. Having a mate also meant only one partner. Was it even _possible _for him to do that? Kiba shook his head to rid himself of the thoughts and turned his attention back Akamaru.

"She definitely fits the criteria, but I don't know yet."

The more the male thought about it, the more it seemed like it wouldn't hurt to get to know Sakura. He didn't have to jump right into a serious relationship and Sakura didn't seem like the type of girl who would allow that anyway. Nodding to himself, he took off and began bounded through the thick trees of the Leaf, his hound right on his heels. When he arrived to the large open area, Kiba breathed deeply, enjoying the rich smell of the pine trees and soil. There was another scent he picked up on. He smiled when he laid eyes on who it belonged to.

"Hey Kiba, whatcha doing out here?"

"Just wanted to blow off a little steam," he answered as Naruto jogged up to him. "What about you?"

"Just practicing this new jutsu I learned." Naruto grinned and held a fist up. "I've almost perfected it."

It was amazing how many years had gone by and Naruto was still just as energetic as he had ever been. Now that he could control the Kyuubi, he was nearly unstoppable…and still just as dumb sometimes. Still, he would give Kiba a good fight and that should help release some of his pent up frustrations that had tripled because of his thoughts of a certain kuniochi.

"Hey Naruto." Kiba jumped back and dropped into a fighting position with Akamaru at his right side, ready for an attack. "Why don't you try that new jutsu out on me?"

Naruto's blue eyes brightened and his confident smile broke across his face. "You're on!"

When the two males finally finished sparing, the sun was going down and the surrounding foliage was in pieces. Sweat dripped from their bodies as they attempted to catch their breath. Naruto clapped Kiba on the back. "Maybe next time you'll beat me."

"Don't get too cocky." Kiba stomach growled loudly. He hadn't had anything to eat since earlier that day and after burning all that energy, he was starving.

Naruto heard the loud rumble and laughed. "Let's go get some ramen. I'm hungry too!"

Anything sounded good to Kiba at the moment. It had been a while since he'd had a delicious bowl of Ichiraku ramen. That old man sure did know how to cook. Akamaru's tail began to wag happily, knowing he also would get a bowl to eat. The sun's orange hue surrounded the two males as they made their way back into town. The temperature was dropping with the sun and Kiba suppressed a shiver as the wind picked up.

While they walked, Kiba thought back to his encounter with Sakura. He was interested in knowing more about her. All he really knew was that she was a highly skilled medic, had a fiery temper, and trained underneath Lady Tsunade during her time as Hokage. There was so much more he wanted to know like what her favorite food was or any hobbies she had…other than beating Naruto and Sai to a pulp when they messed up. What she want to do with her life? Was she a virgin? Was she over Sasuke finally? Even if she wasn't, Kiba was going to try and get to know her anyway. He knew he could take her mind off that bastard if he really wanted to. He was just that fucking awesome.

"Naruto," Kiba said as they continued through the woods, the village within sight. "What kind of things does Sakura like to do?"

Naruto scratched his chin thoughtfully. "Well she loves being a medic. Her apartment is covered in medical scrolls. I don't really know other than that now that you mention it." Naruto's eyes lit up. "Wait, Sakura-chan likes to cook! She's not very good, but maybe one day."

Kiba laughed at that thought. He himself was actually a fantastic cook if he did say so himself. Maybe it was because of his keen sense of smell. He knew beforehand if something was going to taste good or if it would tastes like ass. He and Sakura could have some fun in the kitchen.

"Wait, why do you want to know?"

Kiba smirked. "Because I'm going after Sakura."

"_What?!" _Naruto exclaimed loudly. "You can't have her!"

"You already have Hinata you idiot!"

The blonde stopped his rampage momentarily. "Oh yeah, you're right."

It had taken the oblivious male quite some time to realize that Hinata cared about him. Hinata had finally worked up the courage to tell Naruto how she felt. One day, Shino and Hinata were sparing when Naruto and Kiba had shown up. They decided to spar two versus two and then the two winners would battle. Hinata ended up losing to Naruto, but afterwards, she stopped him as everyone was leaving. Her nervousness set in and she ended up twiddling her fingers, looking down, and having a hard time trying to say what she wanted. Naruto finally got tired of waiting.

"Spit it out Hinata!" he shouted.

His outburst frightened the Hyuuga and she immediately shouted back, "I like you!"

She covered her mouth as Naruto stared at her open mouthed. The stressed ended up being too much for her and Hinata fainted. It wasn't long after that the two of them started dating. That was over a year ago and they were still going strong. Kiba had noticed that since Hinata and Naruto started seeing each other, she had come out of her shell more. It was like their personalities complemented each other.

Soon Naruto and Kiba were flipping the white sheets back that led to Ichiraku ramen. A warm bowl would be just the thing to warm them up. They were now shivering from the drop in temperature along with having gotten sweaty during their spar session. The older man turned and greeted them with a wide smile.

"Hello boys, it's good to see you!"

"Great to see ya too pops," Naruto exclaimed, quickly taking a seat. "I'll take whatever special you have. I think it's time to try something new!"

Teuchi turned back to the stove. "You'll love it! I'll surprise ya and not tell you what it is."

"Works for me!"

Kiba shook his head at Naruto before saying he and Akamaru would have the same thing. It only took about five minutes and the bowls were steaming in front of them. Kiba placed a bowl on the ground and his partner wagged his tail happily in return. They trio dug in and the Inuzuka felt his stomach come alive with the first bite, growling with hunger. There was just something about the delicious blend of spices that Kiba always enjoyed. The basil, the sage, and the lemon pepper were the strongest of the spices he could smell. Deciding he should eat instead of pondering over his food, Kiba dug in.

It didn't take long for them to finish their meal and soon they were waving good bye to Teuchi.

"Hey Kiba, me and some of the guys are going to get some drinks later. Want to come?"

Kiba thought about it for a moment. Maybe some alcohol and surrounding himself will males would help take the edge off his rut. At this point, a constant erection was annoying. Sure why not? It wasn't like he had any places tonight anyway. That was sad to say that someone his age didn't have any plans on a Friday night. Maybe he needed to branch out a bit more.

"Yeah I'll go, what time?"

* * *

"You've got to be kidding me."

Sakura looked in the mirror at what her friend had dressed her in. Why did she even consider letting Ino dress her for their night out? It made no sense. That woman clearly had no sense of modesty. That was clear from the tiny tank top she always wore. Sakura felt her cheeks heat up with embarrassment. Why on earth would she even bother to wear something so skimpy when it was forty degrees and dropping outside? Ino had her in an outfit similar to the purple one she usually wore, but this one was red and tied around the back of her neck. The shirt also had high slits on the sides and mesh covered her stomach and legs. Was she going to a club to pick up men or something instead of going out for a girl's night?

Ino puffed her blonde bangs out of her face. "Don't be so stuck up. It looks good on you!"

"Thanks, but I'm not attempting to get froze bite," Sakura answered, reaching for her large winter jacket. "I can treat it, but I'd rather not go through that."

"You exaggerate too much. At least take it off once we get there."

Sakura grabbed her wallet and gazed stonily at her friend. "I'll think about it.

Soon they were headed off to Shinobi's Corner to meet with Hinata and Tenten. It had been a long time since they had been able to just sit down and enjoy each other's company. Everyone was so busy nowadays; it left no room for socializing. Sakura was definitely looking forward to it, but even more so, she was looking forward to getting out of the frigid air. Her teeth were clacking together and eyes watering from the sharp wind as the two made their way towards the bar. Goosebumps lined her skin despite wearing a jacket. By the time they had arrived, Sakura could no longer feel her hands. Why didn't she change again?

The two stepped into the brightly lit building, relishing the warmth that enveloped them. Toasty air had never felt so wonderful to Sakura and she began rubbing her hands together to rid them of the numb feeling. Ino looked around and pointed out their friends, who were sitting in a booth together. Hinata and Tenten smiled at them when they sat down.

"That sure is, um, a nice outfit Sakura," Tenten teased.

Sakura rolled her eyes. "This dork next to me insisted that I wear it."

"I didn't force you do anything," Ino said slyly. "You must like it or otherwise you would have changed."

"Look you-"

Tenten held up her hands as a signal for them to calm down before things got ugly. "It looks nice Sakura, no worries. It just seemed like you would freeze your ass off in something like that."

"Oh trust me, my ass is freezing," Sakura grumbled.

Soon the women were ordering drinks and enjoying each other's company. So much had happened since their last session almost four months ago. Ino smiled at Tenten while stirring her straw in her drink. "So how is the baby?"

Tenten blushed and rubbed her protruding stomach. "The baby is fine. Neji and I are excited to meet this little one."

"You guys sure didn't waste any time," Sakura teased. "You just got married!"

Tenten smiled before leaning forward and saying, "Actually, this baby was already inside me when we got married."

That caught Sakura by surprise at that confession, but then again, she wasn't. Tenten and Neji and been together for years now so it really didn't come as a shock. She did wonder how the Hyuuga Clan would take to Neji marrying someone not in their clan. Tenten frowned when Sakura asked that question.

"They do not want to accept me or my baby," she said sourly. Right after a smile broke out on her face. "Neji says he will fight them until they accept it or either renounce his position as a part of the Hyuuga Clan."

"That's some pretty serious stuff," Ino said, eyebrows raised. "How do you feel about that Hinata?"

The quiet girl hooked a loose strange of hair behind her ear. "I think they should accept Tenten. They will have to accept Naruto as well."

That did make sense now that Hinata and Naruto were dating. It had taken that idiot long enough to realize how much the Byakugan user cared about him. Even when she blatantly told him that she loved him when she fought Pein, he still didn't really acknowledge it. Honestly, that may have been due to the war with Obito and Madara; battle may not have been the best place to discuss something like that. Still, life is fleeting, especially for a ninja. Either way, everything worked out and now the two were together at last.

Sakura was pretty sure the Hyuuga Clan may fight having Naruto marry Hinata because she was part of the main branch. The elders feared the Byakugan being erased from history due to outsiders having children with the users. Tenten and Neji's child would be the first testament to if the Byakugan was a dominant gene. Sakura had no doubts that it would be.

The girls continued chatting until Tenten looked up at the door. Her eyes widened for a moment, but then a smile broke out on her face. "Look who's here."

They turned to see Neji, Naruto, Kiba, and Rock Lee coming inside. Naruto was the first to notice them and quickly came over to stand next to Hinata. He leaned down to gently kiss her cheek. Hinata looked up at her partner with a smile. Neji placed a hand on Tenten's shoulder.

"That is nonalcoholic correct?"

Tenten laughed. "Nothing but sweet tea for me."

Kiba gaze was locked on Sakura. What in the _hell _was she wearing when it was so cold outside. His dark eyes grazed over the pale skin of her thighs and up to her toned abs. Despite her being muscular and sitting down, the male could see that she still had the gentle curves of a woman. Her long hair was hanging in a braid of her right shoulder and that red top was making her eyes look all the more bright.

"Why don't you guys join us?" Ino asked, shooting over and patting the spot next to her.

"We would love to sit with you lovely ladies!" Rock Lee exclaimed before plopping down next to Ino with a smile.

Kiba made sure he slide in on Sakura's other side. He smiled at her. "You aren't going to beat me up again are you?"

She returned his smile before picking up her drink. "It depends, is there a need to?"

"I've been good, I promise," he responded, placing his elbows on the table. He sniffed quietly at the pink drink she was sipping on and chuckled. "You know that has like four drops of alcohol in it right?"

Sakura held the drink out at arm's length and studied it for a moment. "It sure didn't taste like there was anything in it. Stiff me on the alcohol will they?"

Kiba took this as his moment to flirt. "Why don't you let me buy you a drink?"

Sakura gave him a quirky smile. "Can you afford it? I'm in a drinking mood tonight."

"So like one or two?" Kiba teased.

Sakura rolled her eyes playfully. "You need to raise that number by a lot."

"Are you sure you can handle that many strong drinks?" Kiba asked, gently poking her side with his elbow. "Or do you want more of those weak drinks you have?"

Sakura gave him a solid look. "I can out drink you Kiba."

Was she challenging him? Kiba felt his smile widen at the thought of that. Kiba was definitely very competitive and if she wanted to have a drinking contest, so be it. That would help with his rut too since alcohol in large amounts made it so he couldn't get it up. It would be a nice…well a break from what was going on. Luckily the raging would go down a little every day. Kiba decided to take this as a chance to ask Sakura out. All of their friends had quit talking in order to watch the two.

"So why don't we make things interesting," Kiba said while turning to fully face Sakura. "Let's make a bet."

Sakura's bright green orbs lit up at the thought of that. She tapped a finger on her chin in thought before snapping her fingers and giggling a bit. "If I win, you have to play my pet dog for a day."

Kiba frowned at that thought. He may have characteristics of a dog, but he wasn't meant to be walked on a leash and given dog treats. That just meant all the more that he had to win. There was no way he was going to do something as embarrassing as that.

"And if I win, you have to let me take you out on a date."

The males gave props to Kiba for his boldness, other than Rock Lee, who was tearing up at the thought of Sakura dating someone. Ino and Tenten squealed with delight while Hinata's face lit up with a bright smile. She had no idea that Kiba liked Sakura, but she was glad that he was going to try and go for her.

Sakura had a look of shock on her face at first, but it soon changed to a smirk. "You're on!" She turned to the closest waiter. "Start the shots!"

At first, Sakura was pretty sure she was going to win. On shot fourteen, she was barely buzzed. Having chakra control made it very easy to filter her blood faster and keep her from getting drunk. That was a nifty little trick when she was in the mood for drinking but not for the horrid consequences. She locked eyes with Kiba, who didn't seem to be very effected either by the alcohol. He gave her his fanged grin.

"Ready to give up yet?"

"Not a chance."

Eventually, Sakura lost count on what number they were on. Filtering the alcohol had now lost its effect because of how much she had drank. Was it 25, maybe 26 shots? Her vision had gone blurry and she honestly thought she was going to puke if she drank another, but she had to beat Kiba. It would be so funny having him play her pet for a day. She was looking forward to it. Kiba wasn't hanging on that well either. His face was flushed and his eyes didn't seem to be able to focus on her.

"You're drunk!" she accused, pointing a shaky finger at him.

"No you're a drunk!" Kiba shouted back, reaching for another shot. "I'll show you pretty lady!"

A hand rested on top of Kiba's and they both looked up to see Neji standing with a firm expression on his face. "You are both drunk. This is over before you give yourselves alcohol poisoning."

"But Nejiiiiiiii," Sakura whined.

"No buts."

"Then who wins?" Kiba slurred. "I win!"

Neji's frown deepened. "Neither of you win. It's a tie so you both have to hold up to your end of the bet. Kiba, you'll be Sakura's dog for a day. Sakura, you will have to go on a date with Kiba.

"_What?!" _ they both exclaimed.

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**Hope you enjoyed the first chapter! The first time I wrote it, it was much longer, but I have no idea what all I put it in it. I remembered most of it though lol. Please review!**


	2. Chapter 2

**Thank you koryandrs, 99bitterswewetblackcat, MOONBunnie K, rburchfield25, and relyss0 for reviewing!**

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Kiba awoke the next morning with a headache that rivaled some of the worse pain he had ever been in. Damn it, how much had he drank last night? What the heck happened? Kiba sat up and winced at the pain lacing through his head and immediately put his hands up to his temples. He needed to get some medicine and quickly.

"You shouldn't drink that much you know."

A hung over Inuzuka looked at his dog blearily before falling back onto the mattress and pulled the covers over his head. "Shut up."

Akamaru jumped onto his bed and curled up beside him. Kiba's hand absently rubbed his dog's ears. "What happened last night? You were brought home by Naruto and Shikamaru smelling like way too much alcohol."

Kiba covered his head with a pillow and told Akamaru everything from what Sakura was wearing to how they started a drinking contest. At first he didn't really remember what happened so he had to think pretty hard for a few minutes. Kiba vowed he wouldn't drink that much alcohol ever again, but at least now he had a date with Sakura...although he also had to play the role of her pet for day. He groaned at that thought and wondered just what that pink-haired woman would make him do.

If the dog was able to laugh he would have at Kiba's predicament. "So where are you going to take her?"

Kiba exhaled. "I don't know yet. Sakura doesn't seem like the movie and flowers type of girl. She'll want to do something fun. I have to talk to her because we haven't even decided when we're going to hold up our ends of the bet."

"Well, if you got up sometime today, maybe you could talk to her."

Kiba peeked from under his pillow and blanket at the clock and saw that it was one o' clock in the afternoon. His eyes widened, his mother must not have been home because she would have kicked him awake by now, hung over or not. Akamaru confirmed, letting him know that his mom had been called on a mission and would be away for the next week. Kiba chuckled at his luck; his mom had a habit of scaring away possible girlfriends so if she wasn't here then he would have a better chance at getting a solid relationship with Sakura.

"Sakura," he murmured out loud.

She truly was something else. She was beautiful, smart, and a little feisty which he liked. She was amazing in every way that he knew her and now he desired to know everything he could about her. Unfortunately last night Naruto hadn't been able to give him many clues to what she liked other than medical scrolls and cooking, but now that Kiba thought about it, he would rather get to know her without the help of someone else. Anything he would find out about her would be on his own time.

Finally sitting up despite his throbbing headache, Kiba got out of bed and went into the kitchen in search of medicine. He didn't have to worry about feeding Akamaru since his sister Hana would do so if he wasn't up yet, but his buddy probably did want to go for a walk. Kiba rummaged through the cabinets and was relieved when he found some aspirin to help soothe his throbbing head. After taking medicine, he looked through fridge to get something to eat. While it warmed up, Akamaru's mate Tamako came into the kitchen and rubbed against Kiba's leg. He reached down to brush his fingers through her tawny fur then rubbed her large belly. Tamako was due anytime soon and from the ultrasound she would have about nine pups.

"Can you refill my water bowl Kiba?" she asked as she licked his leg. "It's been getting dry a lot faster these days."

Akamaru moved to his companion's side and started to lick her face. She returned his affections before playfully nipping at him. The male dog went to go fetch Tamako's water bowl for her and Kiba sat at the table to eat, every few moments sneaking her a bite of the chicken he was eating.

"What's it like having a mate Tamako?" Kiba asked absently as he toyed with the seaweed on his plate.

"Well," the female dog started as she laid on her side. "It's great to have someone who only belongs to me. I'm glad we're part of a clan or else he would probably be running around getting other bitches pregnant."

Kiba locked his arms behind his head. "He wants to breed with other dogs?"

Tamako licked his ankle. "You have to remember Kiba that dogs aren't like humans. It's not hurtful for a male to get others pregnant as it isn't for the females to get pregnant by other males. True, since we are part of this clan we are bound to one another, but if we weren't I wouldn't be surprised if Akamaru was out humping some other bitch."

"Is reproducing all a dog thinks about?" he questioned as he got up to put his plate in the sink.

"Yes," she answered. "Mating is for the purpose of having a litter, that's all."

Kiba sighed. Maybe it wasn't the best idea to ask an animal for their take on having a partner. He couldn't ask his mother either for two reasons: one, she frightened off his father and two, she wasn't in town. His sister did not have a male in her life either so it looked like Kiba was on his own for this one.

Just then Akamaru trotted back in with Tamako's water bowl and Kiba filled it up, placing it near the refrigerator so she could drink. Tamako struggled for a moment to get to her feet before moving over to the water bowl. Kiba announced that he was going to take a shower and then go look for one of his friends. He knew exactly who to talk to about a situation like this.

* * *

Sakura shuffled through work at the hospital. Her head had been pounding when she got up that morning and she couldn't convince Shizune to perform a chakra technique that alleviated painful headaches. Unfortunately, the dark-haired woman felt she deserved to suffer for drinking so much. Shizune grudgingly told her she was starting to act more like Tsunade each day. Sakura insisted that she wasn't, but of course her actions spoke louder than words. Luckily, there were no surgeries that day because the young woman didn't think she would be able to focus.

At first she didn't even remember what happened the night before. When Sakura woke up the next morning on Ino's bedroom floor, the blonde informed her of the events that transpired and why she now had the most raging head trauma she had ever experienced. Supposedly she and Kiba had thought that they could out drink each other. They both won since the contest was halted before someone could get alcohol poisoning and now she had a date with her animalistic comrade.

Sakura's eyebrows furrowed with irritation. It was completely clear that Kiba was interested in her if he wanted to take her out, but she knew his ultimate goal was to get in her pants. It was his mating season time after all. Then again, he didn't take Ino out last year during his rut. In fact, they had ended up at her place once they had a few drinks. Ino said that he was so amazing in bed that she wanted to try him out a few more times...pig.

If anything, Sakura could talk to Hinata about Kiba. She was his teammate and knew him better than any of the other females. She would know if Kiba was trying to play with her mind or not. Right now Sakura was unsure about the whole situation. She did make a bet though and she would hold up her end of it, but she wasn't going to fall into Kiba's arms. She wasn't even sure how she felt about him in the first place. He was just kind of...there. Sure they spent time together, but Sakura had never actually looked at him before. Her eyes had been set to tunnel-vision on Sasuke Uchiha.

The medic grasped her next chart and got ready to see a patient who had gotten a kunai stuck through his hand during practice. The kids nowadays really didn't pay attention to what they were doing.

Sakura's legs moved as if they were set on autopilot, her mind moving back to a certain Inu nin. She was positive he would seek her out soon so then she would get a good look at him. For now, she would just think of ways to humiliate Kiba when she paraded around with him as her pet dog. Giggles bubbled up the medic's throat as she opened the door to see her patient. This could turn out to be fun after all.

* * *

Hinata dodged away just as Shino's bugs almost captured her. Panting, the Hyuuga princess pulled her dark purple hair out of her face and smiled at her friend. Every morning, Hinata, Shino, and Kiba would spar to keep on top of their game. Each of them were jounin and had often been deployed on hard missions so they had to make sure their skills always remained sharp. Sometimes even Kurenai-sensei came to assist them, but nowadays Kairi has most of her attention. The two year old was a handful so the former students understood their sensei's responsibilities.

The child seemed to love watching them battle though so when Shikamaru wasn't busy, he would bring her by. It also seemed like Kairi was fond of Shino the most. She brought out something in the bug user that Hinata had never seen before and she could tell that her comrade was going to be a good father one day. He would swing her with the help of his insects, (which she found amusing and not icky) making her giggle uncontrollably.

"Gentle Fist!" Hinata shouted when she moved close enough to Shino.

_I got him_, she thought when her hand connected, but that was short lived with Shino turned into a swarm of insects. They moved to hit her in the stomach and Hinata dodged once more.

"Do you know where Kiba is?" Shino asked.

Hinata whirled around to see her opponent standing behind her. "I saw him last night at a bar with a couple of friends. He got really drunk so he might still be sleeping."

Shino's eyebrows furrowed. "He can be such an idiot."

"Who's an idiot?"

Both ninjas turned to see Kiba ambling towards them. Hinata smiled at him. "How are you feeling Kiba?"

"Got a raging headache, but other than that I'm fine," Kiba answered, leaning against a tree as Akamaru sat at his ankles.

"You deserve it." Shino moved to stand next to Hinata. He was still looking in Kiba's direction. "Hinata, I need to talk to Kiba alone. Can you give us a moment?"

"Um sure," Hinata responded as she laced her hands together. "I'll meet you guys at Ichiraku's okay?"

Both male teammates nodded and their soft spoken partner began to head through the woods back to the village. Shino turned to his teammate. "What do you want to talk about Kiba?"

It was a statement. Shino wasn't the type to beat around the bush. He always got straight to the point. That was something Kiba liked about his friend although he was a little too stoic for his tastes. Almost like Neji. Those two had to be the most serious ninjas Kiba had ever encountered. He understood why Shino was so serious. After all, his parents were the same way. They were nice people though, they just didn't say much.

"How did you know I wanted to talk?" Kiba questioned as he gazed up at the bright sun.

Despite that it was high in the sky, it was still cool enough to need a jacket outside. Kiba exhaled, watching his breath billow in front of his face. The breeze caused a shiver to move down his spine, but he enjoyed the cooler weather. He didn't have to worry about getting all sticky unless he was sparring with someone and no worries about getting sunburned. For some reason, he was prone to peeling despite his deeply tanned skin.

"Because I know you," Shino responded as he walked to stand next to his childhood friend. "Now what's bothering you?"

Exhaling again, Kiba looked off into the distance. "I think I like Sakura."

"Well she is pretty," Shino mused, "but isn't this kind of sudden?"

Kiba explained to his friend everything that happened the day before and expressed the different feeling he felt around Sakura than any other girl. He knew he was physically attracted to her, but in order to know if he liked the kunoichi, he was going to have to get to know her. Shino remained silent as he listened to Kiba's story.

"So there's something different about her in your eyes," he said quietly. "You don't know what that is, but you want to know. This date is the perfect opportunity to see more into Sakura. You need to concentrate on her. No stupid stunts trying to be funny. Take you're date with her seriously because I doubt Sakura is the type to give second chances."

Well that made things a little more difficult. He had one shot to get this right and if he messed up, there might not be another opportunity. Kiba had to think of a date that would be so much fun that Sakura would want to go on another with him, but what could they do? He had to put some serious thought into it and then go find her later.

The wheels were already turning in Kiba's mind to try and think of something nice and romantic, but fun at the same time. That didn't leave many options so he was going to have to get creative. Kiba smiled to himself. He was going to have so much fun with this.

Sakura was on her lunch break and had stopped to eat at a small restaurant in the village. They served the best seafood dishes and Sakura could really go for some fish at the moment. Gazing down at the menu, Sakura looked over at Ichiraku's that was across the street and saw familiar purple hair.

"There's Hinata," she said out loud. "Hinata!"

The shinobi turned around at the sound of her name and smiled at her friend. After walking the short distance over to the outside restaurant, Hinata took a seat next to the pink-haired woman she had known since childhood.

"Would you like something to eat?" Sakura asked as she continued to gaze at the menu. "They've got some really good stuff here."

"Actually that sounds nice," Hinata answered, leaning over in her wooden chair in order to look at the menu in Sakura's hands. "I really don't want to eat ramen today."

Sakura could understand that. When she and Naruto were kids that was the only place he wanted to eat...ever. It didn't matter if it was breakfast, lunch, or dinner time. That was all the Jinchuriki wanted. She couldn't stomach to eat that much ramen all the time and with Hinata being Naruto's girlfriend, he probably had her eating there as much as he did. All that salt was definitely bad on one's health.

When the waiter came to assist them, both girls ordered a glass of tea and waited for their breadsticks to be brought to them. This was the time for Sakura to find out what she wanted to know about Kiba. Hinata hopefully would have the answers to her questions so she'd better ask now. Her lunch break was only thirty minutes.

"Hinata," she began, taking a sip of her tea. "I wanted to ask you a few questions about Kiba."

Lilac eyes gazed at her curiously. "What about him?"

"I'm sure you know about Kiba's mating season and how he finds a girl to sate him during that one week period. It seems like I'm the girl he's looking at, but then again, I'm not sure. He wanted a date so do you know if he wants to genuinely get to know me or if he's just trying to get laid?"

Hinata's cheeks burned brightly at the latter part of her sentence. "Well, um. Kiba never asked the girls before on a date so I think he wants to get to know you, but I'm sure that...getting...having..."

"Having sex may be his ulterior motive," Sakura finished for her.

Hinata nodded quietly. The waiter returned and took their orders and Sakura handed the blonde male her menu. This was just how she thought it was: Kiba only wanted to have sex with her. Well there was no way in hell that was going to happen. Sakura was not just going to be some girl who sated his needs. There was no need for a relationship anyway. Without one, she wouldn't have to worry about getting hurt by some jerk...

Pushing her thoughts away from a certain Uchiha, Sakura smiled at her friend. "Thanks for telling me Hinata."

They continued to talk for a bit over their lunch and soon it was time for Sakura to go back to work. As she laid down the money for her meal, Hinata stopped her before she could leave.

"Kiba really is a good guy. Maybe during his rut isn't the best time to get to know him."

That did make sense. Because of Kiba's rut, he wasn't thinking straight most likely so when it was over, then they could really talk. There was still their date and her parading him around like a puppy. Sakura doubted she'd be able to hold that off until next week. Today was Tuesday meaning there was still five days left of his rut. What could she do to postpone it?

Naruto came running up to them just as Sakura was about to head back to the hospital. "Hey what's the rush?"

"Sakura, the Hokage wants to see us." The blonde smiled with excitement. "We've got a mission."

Sakura groaned. The last thing she wanted right now was to go on a mission. Wait...maybe this mission would cause her to be gone for the rest of Kiba's rut. Then he wouldn't be thinking with his penis...well not as much anyway. There was still one thing that was confusing her though: if she was so against dating, why did she even care about getting to know Kiba? Sakura sighed. Maybe she was just tired of being alone. The Inuzuka's personality was nothing like Sasuke's and it was obvious that he actually was interested in her. That was way more than she ever got from Sasuke.

"Alright let's go."

Naruto nodded and kissed his girlfriend. "There are two more that are going, but an ANBU Black Ops is getting one and the other is already at the office."

"Okay, bye Hinata!" Sakura called as she and her best friend took off towards the Hokage Tower.

* * *

Kiba was busy walking Akamaru (if that's what one could call it) while Shino watched the insects in their habitats when an ANBU Officer appeared near him.

"Kiba Inuzuka," the masked man said professionally. "You have been summoned to the Hokage's office."

Jumping down from the tree he was in, Kiba landed in front of the two men and asked what was he was needed for. The ANBU Officer told him that he was wanted for a mission and then disappeared in a puff of smoke. Kiba said his goodbyes to his quieter friend and immediately jumped on Akamaru's back.

As they made their way to the tower, Kiba was more than annoyed that he had a mission to go on when he had plans for the evening to speak to Sakura. There was no telling what rank this mission would be and the animal-like ninja knew that the higher the rank, most likely the longer time spent away from the village. True that the pay rate was much higher, but he'd skip the mission if he could in order to spend time with Sakura.

Kiba growled irritably as they stopped at the front steps of the familiar place. It looked like his time with Sakura would have to wait until after he got back. He might not be in a rut anymore, but he was starting to realize that was okay. After all, he could pick a mate whenever he chose, not just in mating season.

Kiba and Akamaru quickly made their way up to the Hokage's office and knocked before opening the door. Boy was he surprised to see that the girl he was just thinking about was standing there next to her teammates. Those pretty viridian eyes shot open with surprise and when she looked away, Kiba was sure he saw her blushing. He smirked at the thought of being able to make her blush without doing anything. Maybe it would be easier to win her affection than he thought.

"So we're all here now let's hear that mission sensei," Naruto said eagerly, moving from his place next to the dark-haired artist.

"Ah ah ah. That's Hokage to you Naruto."

Naruto growled. "You like rubbing that in my face don't you?"

The Hokage turned in his chair and his single opaque eye closed, indicating that he was smiling. Despite that he was now Hokage, the former jounin still kept his face covered with the dark cloth he always wore unless he was out among the people. Naruto had been absolutely shocked the first time he saw his former sensei without a mask. The loudmouth had been silenced for a few minutes. That was the longest Naruto ever kept his mouth closed.

"It's nothing like that," Kakashi said smoothly. "The job is yours once you finish your training. Now about this mission. It's an A rank mission from the Village Hidden in the Clouds. Their leader has been murdered and they need us to find out who is behind it."

"Alright!" Naruto exclaimed. "We're on our way."

"Not so fast." Naruto stopped in his tracks and turned to look back at the silver-haired man. "You can't let anyone know why you're there. Our client has specifically informed us that she believes the advisers of their land have something to do with it so do not engage with them if at all possible."

The four ninjas nodded in understanding.

"Sai, you're the leader of this mission," Kakashi informed. "I can count on you to get things done efficiently."

"Yes sir."

"Alright, prepare and be out of here in thirty minutes."

With that, the four ninjas left to gather their belongings. Kiba couldn't believe his luck as he searched his room and bathroom for everything he would need for the trip. This mission gave him plenty of time to try and get closer to Sakura. They wouldn't be able to go on their date or hold up his end of the bargain, but at least they could talk. Of course the mission came first, but still he could spend time with her whenever they weren't busy.

"Pretty lucky of you huh Kiba?"

Said ninja turned to look at his companion. "Yeah, I can't believe we ended up on the same mission."

Akamaru wagged his tail. "Are you going to mate with her while we're on the mission?"

Kiba coughed as heat flooded to his loins at the thought. "That isn't the reason I'm trying to go after her."

"I thought you wanted her to be your mate?" Akamaru trotted over to his owner and nudged his hand affectionately.

"I never said that," Kiba mumbled.

He didn't have to. If anyone knew him inside and out, it was Akamaru. Kiba didn't have to spell out anything to the canine. He knew without having to be told. Sometimes that was a good thing and other times it wasn't. The dog was naturally nosy so he was going to ask a billion questions until he knew exactly what was going on.

"I take then you're just going to try to learn more about her?" Akamaru whined as he headed for the door. "You humans are so complicated."

Kiba chuckled at that, slinging his pack over his shoulder and following the large dog to the front door. Tamako was waiting for them, her tail wagging enthusiastically. Kiba stopped to scratch behind her ears and rub her belly, a habit he had formed when the female dog first began showing signs of pregnancy.

"Don't you have those puppies until I get back," Kiba informed her.

She licked his hand in response. "I'll try not to."

"Good girl."

Owner and companion headed towards the front gates of Konoha and were met by Sai, Sakura, and Naruto. Wow, usually Naruto was the last one to arrive on the way out. Oh well, they all were there and were ready to leave. Sai nodded at all of them and the four man squad headed into the forest they had grown to know so well. Kiba snuck a few glances at Sakura, realizing she was trying hard not to catch his eye and she smelled a little nervous. Was that because of him? Well if she wasn't interested at all, she wouldn't feel nervous...right?

Finally Sakura stole a glance at him and Kiba gave her his fanged smile. He chuckled inwardly at the redness that tinted her cheeks. Yeah, it might be easier to get Sakura than the initially thought.

* * *

**What's Kiba got planned for this mission lol? Sakura was trying more to analyze the situation than just go with the flow. Review please!**


	3. Chapter 3

**Thank you 96bittersweetblackcat, Okami no Sakura, koryandrs, Fairy of Anime, and my two guests for reviewing!**

* * *

The four ninjas bounded through the trees, the wind whipping sharply at their faces. They were silent during their travel, something that was highly unusual for both Naruto and Kiba. Naruto gazed over at his teammates, picking up on the slight awkwardness between the dog nin and his best friend. Sakura's cheeks were tinted red while Kiba wore a satisfied smirk on his face. Sai was as clueless as ever, not even turning to look at his other teammates. Naruto remembered the drinking contest from the night before and that both of them technically won their bets. Sakura had go go on a date with Kiba and Kiba had to be Sakura's dog for a day. That could explain why things were getting strange between them. The blonde didn't know if Sakura was aware of Kiba's affections for her, but she would find out soon enough. Honestly, Naruto thought they would be an odd couple, but then again, it wasn't his place to judge.

"So where are you guys going for your date?" the Jinchuriki asked, blue eyes gazing at the two people and dog behind him.

Sakura's face turned another shade darker and she didn't say anything. The Inuzuka however chuckled and said, "That's none of your damn business."

Yellow eyebrows furrowed. "What the hell do you mean it's not my business? Like hell it isn't!"

That of course started an argument between the two ninjas and the pink-haired woman rubbed her temples at the sound of their banter. Finally having enough of their nonsense, an annoyed kunoichi glared at them both through jade irises before punching Naruto.

"Shut the hell up!" she yelled as her best friend was knocked into Kiba and they both plummeted ungracefully from the trees, landing with a hard thump after breaking through branches to reach the ground.

Sakura turned her nose up as she continued moving, pulling her black sweater tightly around her body before catching up with Sai. The dark-haired artist turned his opaque eyes in her direction.

"You beat them up," he said calmly, ducking under a thick branch as they moved.

Sakura scowled. "They were getting on my nerves with their arguing."

The ROOT ninja gave her a nonchalant look. "You beat people up anytime they get on your nerves so I don't think that justifies your actions."

Bristling at his words, Sakura decided to change the subject before she punched him too. "So why are you on a mission with us? You're in the ANBU now so shouldn't you be doing more stealthy missions?"

"The Hokage and I have an arrangement," Sai answered. "Every once in a while, I get a regular mission outside of the ANBU. This one happens to be it. I like to go out and see things without having to wear a mask and staying hidden in the shadows."

That made sense. When Sai first decided he wanted to stay with Team Kakashi a bit longer when they were kids, he loved being among people. The male had been deprived of affection for too long and once he began receiving it, he was curious about everything involving people. Sai wanted to understand all types of bonds between them. Friendship, family, lovers...everything. He'd learned a lot through both his successful and many failed attempts at forming bonds with people. Sai still didn't understand completely yet and often analyzed a situation before responding. He was making process though.

Finally, Naruto and Kiba came bounding behind them, frowns plastered on their faces.

"Do you have to be so violent?" Kiba growled as he fingered a cut he'd gotten on his face from the tumble through the trees.

Accusing green eyes whirled to look at him. "Well then you two should stop being idiots."

Kiba raised an eyebrow at the woman. Was she serious? She really was going to act like that towards him? That was annoying as hell. He really liked her a lot, but her attitude sometimes reminded him of Ino.

"We weren't even talking to you, you butted in!" the ninja snapped.

"So what if you weren't talking to me! I don't want to hear you two bickering like children so shut the hell up!"

"You don't have to be such a bitch about it," Kiba muttered under his breath, obviously not quietly enough to avoid his teammate hearing him.

Sakura stopped in her tracks. Kiba, Sai, and Naruto gazed over their shoulders at the woman who was clenching her gloved fists tightly at her sides. The blonde and ebony haired males quickly moved away from Kiba, knowing that he was going to see the full extent of Sakura's wrath.

Kiba watched them both move away and knew he was in for it. Maybe arguing with her wasn't the best thing to do after all, but he couldn't help it. He was a male Inuzuka, they were the dominant one not the female. That could be a problem when the female he wanted had always asserted herself as the dominant one. Damn it, Kiba hoped that she would at least heal him after she beat him to a bloody pulp.

* * *

Finally night had come and the Leaf ninjas began setting up camp. Kiba still felt like his face had been stepped on by an elephant. Sakura had grudgingly healed him when Sai pointed out that someone who couldn't move would be a hindrance to their progress, but it still hurt despite the hours that had passed. At least he knew not to say something like that to her again. When the enraged female had broken his arm, that was enough of a reminder. How the hell was he supposed to put up with this? How did Naruto and Sai do it for so many years? Kiba was headstrong so he knew they were going to go at it again. The Inuzuka was used to females who just listened to what he said, like Hinata. He had been a fool to think that it would be the same with the stubborn kunoichi.

The four man squad was setting things up for the night, Kiba searching for firewood with Akamaru at his heels before moving to his side and looking up at him. "Didn't your mom tell you not to call human females that?"

Kiba growled as he picked up thick pieces of wood, still a little ticked at how that little woman beat him within an inch of his life. "I forgot."

The big canine tilted his head as if not believing his master's words. "Well she gave you a good way to remember didn't she?"

"Like hell she did." The tanned male gathered a few more sticks before moving back to the campsite, letting his nose lead him since it was a cloudy, moonless night.

When he arrived back, Sai was lying out their sleeping bags while Naruto placed the fish he had caught on sticks. Kiba had every intention of grabbing the biggest one, but that would cause another fight with the blonde thus ending with another beating from Sakura. At least he was learning from his mistake...but where did they go from there? He had to win her good side back before they returned from the mission so they could go out on their date.

Why did this woman, the one he really wanted, have to be so damn complicated? All the previous girls he had been with were no where near this hard to figure out. Granted, he was just starting with trying to know her and was failing miserably, but the Inu nin was not a quitter. He was going to get what he wanted and Sakura was going to like it. He could be just as stubborn as she and sometimes, even more so.

Placing the firewood down, Sakura cracked a rock against another, creating a spark that in turn started a small flame. As it grew, Naruto adjusted the sticks so the fish could roast over it. Kiba's stomach growled loudly at the scent that was wafting from the food. He hadn't eaten since that morning, none of them did and he had a feeling that they might have to catch some more fish.

Looking over at Sakura, he saw she was openly ignoring him as she sat on the ground, knees drawn to her chest, poking the fire with a stick. She was so pretty when she was angry. Pink eyebrows knitted, slight frown on her face, and the fire that was reflecting in those deep green eyes was pretty ironic. Kiba watched intently as the object of his lust reached up to tuck a silky strand of her hair behind her ear, exposing a slender neck.

From that little motion, Kiba's lust shot through the roof. When a potential female mate exposed her neck during the mating process, that was a sign that she trusted the male and was the place where marking was done. Sakura of course didn't know that, but it didn't stop the flare of heat that knocked the chill of the night off his body.

_Look at her,_ Kiba thought as he clenched his fists, trying hard not to haul her on her feet and press her body firmly against his. _She doesn't even realize what she's doing to me._

"I'm going to take a bath in the river," Kiba said quickly as he turned to head off to the sound of water.

"Wait Kiba, it's forty degrees out here. You'll get sick if you try and bathe right now," Sakura called after him.

Wasn't she just mad at him two seconds ago? Oh well, if she wasn't that was for the better. Kiba looked over his shoulder at her, giving her his fanged smirk. "Thanks for worrying about me, but I'll be fine."

Sakura's cheeks flared darker than they were from the biting cold air. "I was just...I mean..."

The way she was stumbling over her words made his ego rise a notch as he turned with Akamaru following after him. Once they reached the river, his raging hormones hadn't subsided at all; only causing the lower half of his anatomy to respond. He was in need of a cold shower, but this would have to do.

Kiba stripped out of his clothes quickly, his teeth chattering as the chilly air bit him on the ass. Without thinking twice about it, Kiba dove into the water, the river's surface hitting him like a thousand knives piercing his body.

"D-damn it," Kiba cursed when he resurfaced, arms immediately wrapping around his chest.

Sakura said it was forty degrees outside, but the water had to have been under thirty with how freezing it was. Luckily, the frigid water was doing what he wanted it to and he finally felt the spike in arousal dampening and his raging hard on relaxing. Exhaling, Kiba washed up quickly, not wanting to spend more time in the water than he had to.

The dog ninja went to get out of the water and found it harder to get out than it had been to stay in. Akamaru watched intently from the bank. "Looks like it's cold."

"W-hat gave you t-the first clue?" Kiba stuttered, finally just jumping out and feeling like he was going to turn into a block of ice.

Dropping his stance so he was on all fours, Kiba shook like the dog he was, purposely spraying Akamaru with droplets from his body. The hound moved away quickly, growling at his master's smug grin.

Once he was dry, Kiba could feel his limbs start to go numb so he quickly threw his clothes back on; hurrying back to the campsite so the warmth of the fire could penetrate his frozen muscles. Upon arriving, he saw that the fish had already been passed out. Luckily, the one left was still nicely sized and once he reached the fire that was still blazing strongly, he put his numb fingers as close to the flame as he could without burning himself until he could move his hands again.

He could feel Sakura's gaze on his back, but he ignored it to eat. Hell, wasn't she ignoring him earlier? He wanted to see how she responded to that. Most girls when they were trying to pretend someone wasn't there and that person didn't respond to it, the affect they were trying to have fell on them.

As he ate his fish, giving Akamaru bites in between his, he continued not to say anything to Sakura and struck up a conversation with Naruto and Sai instead.

"So who's the person we've got to find?" he asked, after swallowing the tasty, but season-less piece of flesh.

Sai was wearing his ANBU cloak, dark hood covering his head to keep himself warm as he ate. "Hoshiko Miyagi," he answered, putting his bare stick on the ground. "The wife of the leader who was killed."

"I bet she was the one who killed him," Kiba joked, earning a chuckle from Naruto.

"That's not funny."

All three males turned to gaze at their female partner who wore a frown on her face. "Why would any woman want to kill her husband?"

Kiba's eyebrows furrowed in annoyance. "I was only kidding Sakura. Don't be so uptight."

Said female ninja blinked as she watched Kiba continue eating and talking as if she hadn't even said anything. That fucking jerk! He must have wanted her to break _all_ the bones in his body for talking to her like that. _No one_ ever did for fear of her wrath, but this guy was either completely clueless or a masochist.

Her temper fuming, the pink-haired woman stood up and hauled Kiba up by his jacket. "You want to say that again?"

Kiba only gave her a sly smirk. "Don't be so uptight."

That was it. Sakura was going to break his face for the second time today. Kiba was on a role if he wanted facial reconstruction surgery with the way he was acting. He was so cocky and the irritated female would love to beat it out of him.

"Sakura, we can't afford more meaningless injuries," Sai said quickly when he saw her raise a chakra infused fist.

She growled at those words. Damn Sai for always being right when it came to missions. She would expend her chakra because _she_ would be the one who would have to fix him up after she beat the daylights out of him.

Pushing Kiba away from her, Sakura said coolly, "That's fine. I'll kick your ass some other time."

Kiba smirked at her again. "You're the only girl I like to be beaten up by."

Chuckling inwardly at the tint that dusted her cheeks, the satisfied male watched as she got hastily into her sleeping bag, muttering the word "asshole" under her breath.

Akamaru whined. "You're never going to get her if you keep making her angry."

Kiba didn't fully agree with that. He was only having a little fun with her this time, he wasn't pissed off. Perhaps he should just apologize even though Sakura would brush it off because she was still mad. Maybe he should wait until she had calmed down a bit before saying anything to her.

Naruto's deep blue orbs watched his best friend get settled for the night before turning angrily to Kiba. "Would you quit being such a jerk to her? I thought you liked her!"

The Inuzuka shushed the loudmouth quickly. "I do like her, but I'm not going to just bend over and take it up the ass when she gets pissed at me. I get pissed too, am I supposed to just back down?"

"That would be wise," the pale ninja spoke softly. "Sakura always goes for the win even if it isn't a competition."

Kiba thought about that for a moment. Honestly he was the same way. Whether it was a fight or something meaningless like who could stand on their hands the longest, Kiba always wanted to be the best. That feeling had lowered a bit since he was a child and had his butt kicked on numerous occasions, but that didn't stop him from doing his best. If Sakura wanted to go head to head with him, that was just fine, but she wasn't going to win.

The male groaned quietly as his body began to respond to the not-so-innocent images flowing through his mind. It would be much more fun to dominate a woman who had a strong spirit in the bedroom. His previous interests had been submissive, begging for him to take them. It had never been the opposite before although Kiba completely shunned the idea of him begging a woman to take him. That just wasn't the Inuzuka style.

Soon, another hour passed and finally the men laid down to sleep. Kiba's sleeping bag was on the right side of the little woman and when he got situated, he watched with amusement as she turned away from him stubbornly.

"Sakura?" he called softly, not expecting her to answer; she didn't. "I'm sorry for earlier today. I know I can be a jerk sometimes and I'm sorry for calling you a bitch."

Kiba gazed at the long pink hair that was almost a lilac color from the lack of light. Before his brain could reason that his was a bad idea, Kiba's hand reached out to finger the soft tresses, enjoying the silky texture brushing over his knuckles.

"I like that you grew your hair long Sakura," he murmured. "You're even more beautiful with it like this."

She still didn't respond. Perhaps it was a good thing she hadn't smashed his face in yet, he rather liked his face the way it was. Taking in a deep breath, Kiba inhaled the scent of wild berries and felt his body trying to react to it. He forced the feeling down as best he could, releasing her hair before he lost control and turned away from her.

Sakura felt a spike in his chakra for the second time that night. The first time had been when he suddenly decided to go take a bath and it was fluctuating now. It was the same thing like when they walked together to the bridge and he kept spacing out. Was the hormonal change that drastic during the Inuzuka mating season? That must suck and Sakura had to commend his ability to hold himself back.

Her mind drifted to the moment he had touched her hair and how her heart had sped up when she felt the shift in her locks. It didn't make sense for her to nearly jump out of her skin by that little action. What confused her the most was that she had allowed him to touch it. Sakura never let anyone but Ino touch her hair and that was only when she was washing it for her. When Naruto had tried one time a few months ago, she had nearly bitten his head off about it. Something along the lines of she didn't want his filthy hands in her beautiful locks. Well, Kiba fed his dog part of his meal and didn't mind Akamaru licking his hand, but she didn't stop him.

Then there was the fact that he had apologized to her. Sakura never thought she would have gotten that out of the Inuzuka nin. He was too bullheaded for apologies. She wasn't even sure if she was going to forgive him, but staying mad at him wouldn't solve anything. He was too cute to stay angry with. Sakura had told herself she was going to get a good look at Kiba and when she did, the kunoichi couldn't understand why she hadn't noticed earlier. Shaggy brown hair, bronzed muscular form, a smirk that was starting to get to her. For some reason, Sakura rather liked his fangs although she would never want him to bite her.

Then there was his clawed nails. If she did happen to go out with him, was this considered bestiality? Kiba could turn into a canine when combined with Akamaru...Sakura shook that thought away. Kiba was human, he just had animalistic tendencies. That was what she was hanging on to.

Looking over her shoulder, Sakura could feel that Kiba had already faded off to sleep, Akamaru curled at his side, the big dog's head resting comfortably on Kiba's hip. It was time for her to settle in too.

Tuning out Naruto's loud snoring, Sakura drifted off to sleep.

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The next morning, Sai was the first to wake up right as the sun began rising. Untangling himself from the warmth of his sleeping bag, the ANBU operative stretched before leaning down to roll up his sleeping bag. Moving to Naruto and Sakura's side, he called their names and gave them each a shake on the shoulder.

"Time to get up," he said. "We need to get going."

With that, Sai went down to the river to wash his face. Sakura groaned, fighting the urge to turn over and go back to sleep. Mimicking Sai's earlier actions, Sakura got out of her sleeping bag and rolled it up, stuffing it in her pack. It was still freezing, but as the young woman bustled around, she felt her body starting to warm up.

Looking over at Naruto who was still sleeping loudly, she called to him. "Naruto! Get up and get ready to go."

"Five more minutes Sakura-chan," he mumbled, burying himself deeper in his sleeping bag.

Sakura shook her head fondly at the blonde, bending down to run a hand through his spiky locks. He sighed softly and continued to sleep. He hadn't changed since they were kids. It had always been hard to get him up on missions unless he woke up on his own. There was one way to get him started though.

Reaching into her pack, Sakura pulled out a small kettle and moved over to the fire to get it started again. Once that was finished, Sakura grabbed her canteen for water, following Sai to the river's edge. The stoic ninja was also filling his canteen and turned to look at her.

"Are Kiba and Naruto up?" he questioned, standing to his feet and capping the canteen.

"Nope." Sakura filled both the kettle and her canteen with water. She placed them next to her and splashed cold water on her face, the icy liquid helping to wake her up. "You already know how Naruto is."

Sai nodded in agreement. "Let's get back and get them up. We don't have time to waste."

The two teammates moved back to their campsite, finding that neither ninja had stirred. It was a little odd that Kiba wasn't up. Usually after someone got up, he heard and was getting up as well. Akamaru was awake and...was whimpering. The dog trotted over to her and licked her hand, continuing with his whining as he looked from her to Kiba.

"What's the matter Akamaru?" Sakura questioned as she placed the teapot over the flame, hooking it on a makeshift holder made out of branches to keep it from being directly in the fire.

Following the dog to Kiba's side, she could see before she got to him that he was shivering. That wasn't strange with how cold it was, but when she bent down, it was obvious something wasn't right.

Ignoring the yelp from Naruto when Sai poured some of his water on his face, Sakura's expression turned serious as she placed a hand to his forehead. There was a line of sweat already there, but he was still shivering. His skin was hot to the touch and she realized that what she said last night did happen: Kiba had gotten sick.

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**I like doing little spats between Kiba and Sakura lol. Aww, they have a mission to accomplish and he's sick! What do you think will happen? What was Sakura planning on doing to get Naruto up before she realized Kiba got sick? Reviews make me happy!**


	4. Chapter 4

**Thank you hyuugahinata247, Guest, and rburchfield25 for reviewing!**

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The first step would be to bring down his fever and most likely he was going to need treatment. This was such a set back to their plans. She had _warned _him that he was going to get sick, but the stubborn ninja didn't listen and now look at him. His cheeks were tinted a light red that clashed with the markings on his face and he was sweating despite the frigid atmosphere.

The medic turned to look at Sai who was standing near them. "We have to get him to their medical center immediately."

"Normally I would say to leave him here because he now is a liability," Sai answered calmly, "but I know now that isn't the right thing to do." The captain looked over at the blonde who was downing his ramen like he would die if he didn't finish. "Snuff out the fire Naruto. We have got move now."

"Mmhatz wong mmit Kiba?" he asked through a mouthful of ramen.

Sakura growled at him before saying, "Don't talk with your mouthful you pig!"

Naruto quickly finished chewing the massive amount of food he had stuffed in his mouth; the shinobi moved over to his best friend's side, his gaze moving over the Inu ninja. "I was asking what's wrong with him."

"He's just a little under the weather, most likely from the dip in the lake last night which I _told _him was a bad idea." The emphasis put on "told" was garnished with a sharp look at the sickly male.

Her eyes softened when she saw how erratic his breathing was. They had to get him out of this weather and a bowl of soup would probably do him a lot of good. Akamaru lay at his master's side, his head over his paws. Little whimpers came from the canine and Sakura could truly see how deep their bond was. The same thing happened when Akamaru was to be put down because of a toxin that was turning him rabid. Kiba did everything possible to save him, even taking a severe attack in order to inject him with the antidote. Sakura was touched by their dedication to one another.

After bringing down his fever, the kunoichi turned to the dog. "Can you carry Kiba to the village?"

The animal got to his feet and barked his answer. Sakura also stood and gently pulled the sick male from his sleeping bag, keeping him wrapped in the blanket that was around his body. Once he was positioned on Akamaru's back safely, Sakura quickly assisted her other teammates in cleaning up their campsite.

Sai pointed out which direction they should be going in before saying, "If we move quickly, we can be there by this afternoon. We will stop whenever Sakura runs out of water to give him. He'll need to keep his fluids up."

Sakura nodded in agreement and mounted Akamaru, positioning Kiba so he was leaning back against her. "Can I hold on to your fur Akamaru?"

The dog barked, nodding his head once when he did so. The female hooked her arms underneath Kiba's, taking hold of the dog's soft fur. They immediately began moving and Sakura had to keep herself from giggling at the exhilaration she felt. It was clear why Kiba always rode on his dog's back: it was so much fun. The wind was whipping her hair around her face and biting her cheeks, causing a pink tint to grace her features. A smile appeared on her face with each movement of the animal underneath her.

"I love this," Sakura said to no one in particular; she looked at her surroundings seeing how fast they were moving.

Deciding to check Kiba again, the medic placed her hand over his forehead. He was starting to warm up already so she used her chakra to cool his heated body. For a moment, she just watched him breathe. He really was handsome, but he was still a jack ass. Sometimes she just wanted to strangle the life out of him, especially yesterday. More than anything she was surprised that he was brave enough to stand up to her. People knew about her temper and strength therefore tried to keep on her good side...except Ino of course. That girl knew how to irritate her in the most beautiful ways.

Kiba groaned in his sleep, turning his head a bit to rest more comfortably against her chest. Sakura's face flushed at the intimate contact. Sakura had already been a little nervous when she realized that Kiba would have to lean against her in order to make sure he stayed on Akamaru's back. Despite the fact that it was cold out, Sakura felt her body heating up. It wasn't like when you're close to someone and their body heat warmed you up. This was a sexual warming. Why the hell was she getting...turned on by his closeness?

Sakura couldn't stop the blush from deepening in her cheeks as her hormones increased the tingling between her thighs. What the hell was going on?

Akamaru turned to glance at them for a moment before returning his gaze to the forest in front of him. He couldn't wait to tell Kiba when he woke up.

It took a few hours to get to their destination, but once there, the client Hisa Yoshida met with them. She brought them to a large room where Kiba began to receive treatment from one of the medical staff while Naruto, Sai, and Sakura sat down to lunch with the wife of the deceased Lord.

"So can you tell us what exactly happened?" Sai questioned after putting down his cup of tea.

The woman laced her fingers in her lap, dark brown eyes locked on the table in front of them. "It all started a few weeks ago when we received this letter." Hisa pulled a piece of paper from her kimono and handed it to Sai who in turn scanned its contents.

"A death threat," he murmured.

"Do you have any idea who would want to kill your husband?" Sakura questioned, making sure to study the woman's behavior while she explained her story.

Hisa moved a hand up to grip the back of her neck and looked away for a moment, tears shining in her eyes. "I really believe councilman Hisoka had something to do with it. He absolutely hated my husband and the way he ran the village. Almost everything my husband brought up for the council to help make a decision on, Hisoka rejected it. He often said that he would make a better leader than my husband."

"I suppose your husband's name is Katsuo?" Sai questioned, laying the paper on the table and turning his attention back to the woman in front of him.

"Yes," she answered softly. "His name was Katsuo Yoshida. His people loved him...I loved him. When I was informed that he had been killed, I couldn't believe it. The smile on Hisoka's face was unmistakable; there's no doubt in my mind that he is the one responsible for this. Unfortunately because Katsuo and I don't have an heir yet, Hisoka might be next in line."

Naruto glared. "Why don't you just become the next leader of your village? You were the Lord's wife so you should have the right!"

Hisa ran a pale hand through her short brown hair. "I don't know if I can do that. I don't have what it takes to be a leader."

"Wait a minute," Sakura interrupted. "You said that you didn't have a child _yet_. Are you pregnant?"

A smile graced their client's face at those words. "Two months."

Sakura gave her congratulations, but on the inside, her mind was turning. Being a medical ninja meant that Sakura had excellent use with chakra. When a woman became pregnant, ninja or not, another chakra different from the mother's was detectable by the first month. She only felt the woman's chakra. Why would she lie about something so simply detectable? The pink-haired female was already having her doubts. They grew more as Hisa continued to explain what was going on.

Supposedly, last week was when the murder took place. Lord Katsuo was found dead in his room. His throat had been slit and there was obvious signs of a struggle from how disheveled the room was. Katsuo was a good ninja as well so to have someone take him out; it had to be another ninja. What Sakura didn't understand was how no one had come to his rescue. Ninjas didn't exactly fight quietly or keep their surroundings intact when they fought and after questioning Hisa on her husband's abilities, he had fire based chakra.

"We would like to see the room where your husband was killed," Sai said, getting to his feet.

Sakura and Naruto followed suit. The young woman's beryl eyes turned to look at Kiba. From the feel of his chakra, it was calming down from the spiky sensation it had when he was sick. It seemed like he was already starting to feel a bit better. Despite the fact that she had told him not to go into the river in the first place, the kunoichi didn't like to see him sick. He looked so helpless and Akamaru wasn't happy either. He was lying next to his master, head resting on his stomach. It had to be the sweetest show of affection between animal and master.

"Sakura?"

Her gaze tore unwillingly from the sick shinobi and turned to the one who called her name. "Yes ma'am?"

Hisa gave her a knowing smile, a strange twinkling in her oceanic irises. "Does he mean a lot to you?"

Sakura attempted to stutter her complete and utter refusal to acknowledge caring for a jerk like Kiba, but the older woman held up a hand to silence her. "I couldn't stand Katsuo the first time I met him twelve years ago when we were sixteen. There was no way I wanted to marry such an egotistical, annoying guy like him, but I fell in love anyway."

Something about that sentence struck a chord in Sakura's heart. When she was honest with herself, although she often claimed she would rather be single, Sakura wanted to be happy. Sure she was young and had the rest of her life to worry about someone special, but deep down Sakura wanted the fairy tale ending. She thought that maybe, just maybe Sasuke could be her prince. She hoped that he could possibly see her as something more than a burden. That didn't happen and she was left broken once he disappeared again.

"Come, the room is down this way," Hisa said, turning away from the three Leaf Ninjas.

Sakura moved over to Kiba, bending down to place her palm against his forehead. "Just let me check his temperature before we go."

It wasn't as warm as it had been that morning. That was a step in the right direction. Akamaru licked the other hand that was by her side. Sakura returned the affection by scratching behind the big dog's ears. He panted happily in response; it seemed that Akamaru was thanking her for helping his owner.

_How the hell would I be able to know what a dog is thinking? _Sakura asked herself while getting to her feet, giving Akamaru one last pat before following after their client and her other teammates.

Kiba groaned after opening heavy lids. He felt like shit; Sakura had been right, he did end up getting a little under the weather. He wasn't feeling extremely horrible, but not exactly at his best either.

"You're finally awake."

The shinobi turned to look at his dog who was sitting next to him. "How long have I been out?"

"The entire trip here and it's been about an hour since we've arrived."

Damn it, that meant that his comrades had to go ahead and start looking into their mission without him. The whole reason Kiba was put on this assignment was because of his abilities as a tracker. His and Akamaru's skills could be of great use to their client and his teammates.

Kiba quickly got out off the futon on the floor and stood abruptly. He immediately began to sway. The next thing he knew, his vision went dark and when it cleared, he was on the floor.

"What the hell just happened?"

Akamaru trotted over and whined while licking his master's cheek."You're in no condition to go anywhere right now Kiba. Lie back down and get some rest."

"But I'm not..."

He wasn't even able to finish his sentence before fatigue weighed heavily on his shoulders. Instead of trying to deny it further, Kiba slipped back into the warm blanket of his futon while Akamaru nudged a cup of water to him.

"Drink that first."

"I thought I was supposed to give the commands," Kiba murmured, picking up the cup and taking a sip of the cool liquid. He did have to admit, it felt good sliding over his parched throat. The Inuzuka hoped that it was just a bit dry and not getting sore. There was nothing more annoying than having a sore throat.

After finishing his drink, Kiba felt his eyelids drooping and he promised himself that whether he was feeling better or not, he would still get up and help his teammates.

"Oh wait, before you go back to sleep there's something I want to tell you."

Kiba groaned. "First you tell me to go to sleep then want to keep talking? Would you make up your mind?"

Akamaru growled at him, baring his sharp fangs. "Do you want to know happened or not?"

Sighing, Kiba answered by saying, "What's on your mind?"

That seemed to please the big canine because he started to pant and wag his tail. "It's about Sakura."

That immediately caught the sick male's attention. Anything about the woman who had his affection was worth listening to. Although they fought pretty much the entire time they were around each other last night, he already missed her presence. It was kind of cute when she was pissed, but then again, she was cute when she was happy as well. Kiba just liked looking at her, that was all there was to it.

"On the way here, Sakura's body began preparing itself for mating while she was holding you on my back. I could smell her arousal."

That was definitely good news. It seemed like Sakura's body was responding to his and if that was the case, Sakura was indeed his mate. Sure, Kiba could easily get a woman aroused, but when it happened just because she was near him, it was different. He couldn't believe how lucky he was to have such a pretty girl. She was exactly what he was looking for: smart, pretty, and strong. Sure their personalities clashed because they were so similar, but that was okay. Perhaps if he spent more time close to her, Sakura's body would continue to react to his until she gave in. If they had sex, Kiba could mark her and they would be tied as one.

"That's good," Kiba murmured, reaching out a hand to scratch on the side of his animal's neck right where he liked it. "Sakura's definitely going to be mine."

Later on that night, the Konoha ninjas ate and got ready for bed; or at least that's what everyone else in the Lord's house believed after Sakura put them all in genjutsu. They couldn't risk someone overhearing their conversation and after returning to the room that Kiba was in, the ninjas sat down to talk.

"This woman knows something," Sai started, crossing his legs and propping his elbow up on his knee. "She hid it well, but from the way she spoke about Hisoka, she's trying to pin the entire thing on him. We cannot rule him out because he is a primary suspect, but so is Hisa."

"Yeah," Naruto answered. "There's just something not right about that woman. Who can smile and be so happy like that after her husband just got murdered? Besides the little tears she cried when we first met her and when we went to search the room, she didn't seem that upset about it."

Sakura nodded in agreement. "Then there's the fact that she lied about being pregnant. What good would that do her?"

The team leader placed his hand against his mouth. "None that I can think of. Perhaps she has lied to the council about being with child, but that shouldn't matter as they have medical ninja would could prove that she wasn't."

"So she made it up just to make it up?" Naruto scratched a hand through his yellow spikes, gaze switching between Sakura and Sai.

"I guess so," Sakura answered. "Then there's the fact that the room was nearly doused in water. Whoever killed him has water based techniques. How are we going to find out who has those abilities?"

"I think first we need to search the room again with Kiba and Akamaru's help. They should be able to tell who has been in there. We will return to that room again tomorrow."

Naruto and Sakura nodded in understanding and the next topic was how no one was around when Katsuo was murdered. Sakura gave her comrades a serious look through the dim lighting. "Where was everyone when he got killed?"

"That was something I was wondering about," Naruto commented. "This was a Lord; there should always be at least a servant or something around."

"Indeed." Sai's dark brows knitted in thought. "If no one was around when it happened, that leads me to think that this was thoroughly planned out and not just done on a whim. We should ask a few of the servants what went on the night he was killed."

Sakura nodded. "If I can see the body of Lord Katsuo, I can do an autopsy on it to find out if there were any other possible elements that lead to his death."

The artist stretched his arms above his head. "That would be wise. We should get some sleep now. Tomorrow will be busy."

The ninjas laid out their futons and bunkered down for the night. The kunoichi first walked out of the room and took the people out of genjutsu before laying her futon next to Kiba, but not too close. Sakura tried to convince herself that it was only to make sure she could watch over him, but then again, she had been denying a lot of things lately. One thing was for certain: Kiba was annoying as hell. He was worse than Naruto because her best friend actually backed down when she got angry; Kiba did not. Sakura liked to have full control, but the shinobi was a free spirit.

"You're so irritating," the woman said softly as she checked his temperature once more.

His fever had broken. It seemed he was one to heal fast; that was a good thing on their part. Kiba most likely would be up and moving by tomorrow most. Now she just had to check how the rest of his body was doing to make sure nothing else was wrong. The medic had learned the hard way that a fever was not always a cold-like symptom when she first began working in the hospital years ago.

Sakura moved to Kiba's side, stopping to give Akamaru a good belly rub before turning to Kiba. After making sure the Inuzuka was still asleep, she pulled back his blanket and placed her palms over Kiba's chest and stomach. Her chakra began to glow around her hands and the kunoichi gently searched Kiba's body; so far, so good.

"So I'm irritating huh?"

She froze and slowly looked at Kiba's face, seeing that he was wide awake and smirking at her. "How long have you been awake?"

"Oh, maybe since you first came over here." The male locked his arms behind the back of his head.

Sakura frowned at him. "So you pretended to be asleep?"

Kiba shook his head. "I woke up when I smelled you."

A funny expression came over the female shinobi's face. "Are you saying I stink? I took a bath before I came back in here."

He couldn't help but chuckle at that. "No, that's not it. It's your natural smell."

Sakura pondered that for a moment. Kiba did have a good sense of smell so it wasn't surprising that he was able to pick up on something like that. Her curiosity had been piqued; what exactly _did _she smell like?

She asked and Kiba responded saying, "Your scent like wild berries. It's not extremely fruity, but just enough so I can almost taste them. It's combined with a cool, fresh smell, like how the air is in winter."

_That's pretty nice, _Sakura thought, a smile gracing her features. _Never knew I smelled like frozen berries._

"So you're doing something with your chakra?" Kiba asked. "I feel great, there's nothing wrong."

"I'm just making sure," Sakura answered. "I'm checking for any infections."

"Well," the male started slowly. "Wouldn't it be easier if your hands were actually touching me?"

Sakura felt her cheeks heat up. "Well, I-"

Kiba didn't allow her to finish, but instead placed his hands over hers and pressed her palms against his chest. Almost instantly he could smell the start of her arousal and he nearly heard her pounding heartbeat. Would it be too soon to take things a step forward?

"You're chakra feels nice," Kiba commented, keeping his hands over hers.

He gently grasped her wrists and to his surprise, she didn't pull away. The scent of her arousal was permeating his nostrils, setting his senses into overload. His body was responding to Sakura's, but this time it was a bit different. Usually it was just an extreme urge to have sex. This time he wanted to do more than that. Of course intimacy was not off the list of things he wanted to share with Sakura, but now just holding her was part of what he wanted. Kiba longed to run his clawed fingers through her coral hair and just bask in her presence.

Sitting up, the dark-haired male slowly reached for Sakura's pink tresses. She watched his hand and her features darkened. "What are you doing?"

"I wanna see you with your hair down," Kiba said softly. "Relax."

He could still sense that she was hesitating, so the Inu ninja pulled her hair from its ponytails with the utmost care. Kiba couldn't help but let his fingers glide through her silky hair. After a few moments, she relaxed.

"You know," he started. "I really like you Sakura."

Even though the room was dark, he could still see the cute little blush on her face at his words. "That was the whole reason I wanted to go on a date with you in the first place."

She gave him a pointed look. "How do I know you actually like me and don't just want to have sex with me?"

What brought up that question? Well she was friends with Ino and there was no doubt she knew about his sexual activities due to the loudmouth blonde. She was after all in everyone's business. There was no point in trying to work around this; he would be straight forward...but not too much.

"How can I show you?" he questioned, fingers brushing along her shoulder as he continued to tease her hair.

Sakura's look turned thoughtful. "I don't know, but you have to prove yourself."

"I can do that," he answered with a smirk. "There is no challenge I can't take on."

"Whatever," Sakura scoffed with a smile sneaking on her features.

They were silent for a moment. The two just gazed at each other and Kiba found himself inching forward slowly. Her lips were right there taunting him and he was dying to kiss them. Kiba moved a hand to gently grip her chin and planted his mouth against hers.

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**I love ending things with my readers on the edge of their seats. It's so fun lol. I'd love to know your thoughts guys!**


	5. Chapter 5

**Thank you AjaxVibe, 96bittersweetblackcat, rburchfield25, Skyrere, Okami no SAkura, hyuugahinata247, and the Critique for reviewing! To the Critique, why do you have nothing to say so far? Your name tells me you should be able to, especially after reading four chapters lol.**

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The Leaf ninjas walked towards the room that Lord Katsuo had been murdered in. Their little kunoichi was off talking to the servants to find out where everyone had been during Katsuo's murder while Kiba, Naruto, and Sai looked around the room. With the help of Kiba and his dog, things would be a little easier if they could pick up any scents.

The inu nin rubbed the back of his neck while they walked down the hall, frowning the entire way. His kiss with Sakura didn't turn out the way he would have liked. At first, everything was going so well. In fact, Sakura had kissed him back so that meant she didn't hate him...completely. It was clear that Kiba had moved too fast after she threw him into a wall. Seriously, was touching her ass that bad? It was only a little squeeze and Kiba couldn't help himself; it was something he always did while kissing a girl. At least he knew not to try that again any time soon.

That pink-haired woman was ignoring him now, an aura of annoyance following her wherever she went. Beryl irises glared daggers at him and the shinobi had no idea how he was supposed to fix his mistake. Whatever he decided to do would have to wait until Sakura calmed down. Kiba wouldn't get anywhere if he tried to speak with her now. He wasn't exactly great with words and didn't want his temper to get him in more trouble with her than he already was.

Kiba grit his teeth in annoyance. Sakura was being such a pest! Why wouldn't she just give in already! He was going to get what he wanted and she was going to become his mate _willingly._ Kiba saw this as another challenge he had to overcome and he could be just as stubborn as the female who had his attention.

"This is it," Sai spoke, opening the door to a closed room.

Akamaru immediately went in and began sniffing around. Kiba did as well and the first thing that hit his nose was the crisp scent of water; however, this wasn't regular water. He could pick up traces of chakra because of his enhanced senses.

The large animal turned his head towards his owner and barked. "The water has washed away any possible scents. I don't smell anything other than a faint hint of blood."

"Follow that scent then," the brunette answered.

"What is it?" Naruto turned confused blue orbs over to the tracker ninja.

Kiba placed his hands on his hips, gazed scrutinizing his surroundings. He moved into the room, sniffing around and agreed that a scent of blood was very faint, almost non-detectable. It would take Akamaru's powerful nose to find a trail if there was one. Since Lord Katsuo's body had been found in the room, there was a good chance that it was his blood. If it was, that wouldn't help them move any closer to solving this crime.

His companion continued sniffing around for a bit before coming to his feet and whining. The scent of blood was only in the room, meaning they were back to square one. Maybe Sakura was able to learn why no one heard the battle and there would be something to investigate further.

"I would go to speak with Hisoka, but our client has requested that no one know why we're here." Sai crossed his arms over his chest. "I had Sakura pose as a new servant and pry for information so we'll have to see what she's able to dig up."

The other two men nodded and they exited the room together. Right now, things weren't adding up and it looked like Sakura was the only one who could find a lead right now. So far, all they knew was that Lord Katsuo had been killed by another ninja, that person had water based jutsus, and there were two suspects so far.

"Wait a second." Kiba paused; Naruto and Sai stopped to look back at him. "If Katsuo was killed by kunai, why was he attacked with water jutsus? I mean, if it was me, I would just drown him instead of bothering to kill him with a kunai. It just doesn't make sense."

The blonde scratched the back of his head. "Yeah, I was thinking about that, but what does it mean?"

They looked at Sai, who had placed a gloved hand to his mouth. "There is always the possibility that this was a set up or someone trying to frame another else for this."

"But who would do that?" Kiba questioned.

"That's what we've got to find out."

* * *

Sakura helped one of the servants named Miko wash the dishes. This girl was such an odd one; she giggled at anything Sakura said, even if it wasn't funny. That trait was quite annoying and the kunoichi wanted to knock some sense into her a few times, but refrained herself. She had a mission she had to complete. Luckily, this girl was prey and Sakura would easily be able to pry any information she might have out of her.

Handing her another plate, the Konoha shinobi gave Miko a bright smile and asked, "How long have you been working here?"

Of course the sixteen-year-old with the long orange braid giggled, the sound grating Sakura's nerves. "I've been here for almost a year now. I had to start working in order to support my family after my parents died."

"I'm sorry to hear that," Sakura whispered softly; despite the fact that she did give her condolences, the older female wasn't going to let the perfect opportunity to ask questions pass by. "A lot of people seem to be passing. I still can't believe Lord Katsuo was killed; it happened before I started working here though."

Sakura gazed around before motioning for Miko to come closer. Curiosity got the best of the teenager and she leaned forward, all ears for what Sakura was going to say.

"I heard that his wife is the one who killed him," she whispered quietly. "I heard she had him murdered, but what I don't get is how no one came to help him that night."

Miko hooked a strand of tangerine-colored hair behind her ear; her sky blue orbs darted around frantically before she said, "I don't know, but everyone was told to go to the festival that fell on that day. Lord Katsuo wasn't feeling good so he opted to stay home and wouldn't allow anyone to tend to him. When we came back, he had already been killed."

"Really?" Sakura questioned, feigning interest in gossip. "Who told everyone to go to the festival? Were you guys gone a long time?"

The other girl nodded, a soft giggle escaping her lips. "Lady Hisa informed us we were off for the night in order to go to the festival. Everyone went. The servants, chefs, the gardeners, everybody. We saw her once at the festival, but she didn't have her personal servants with her and I was told later on that she left."

Now it made sense why no one heard the battle: everyone was off at the festival that night. Everything was pointing towards Hisa, but Sakura knew better than to make assumptions. This still could turn onto someone else; however, she was already annoyed with this place and wanted to get as far away from it as possible. Better yet, there was _someone _in particular that Sakura wanted to get away from.

The female shinobi's teeth ground together in irritation. That pervert Kiba! He had the nerve to touch her like that after first saying he really liked her? What a _jerk_! That bastard was just after her to get in her pants. Sakura didn't expect any less from him, but that didn't stop her from having a little light of hope.

A blush formed over her cheeks at the remembrance their kiss. Kiba's lips were soft and the feel of his canines moving over her tongue had sent shock waves of excitement through her body. At first, Sakura felt like an amateur because she never had kissed anyone like that. In fact, she found it a little gross being a medic and knowing how much bacteria was in the human mouth. Still, it would have made it more obvious that she was inexperienced if she pulled away blushing and Kiba would have definitely teased her about it.

"Hey Choko," Miko called, waving her hand in front of Sakura's face; she chuckled before saying, "What are ya spacing out about?"

The undercover female blinked, momentarily forgetting that she was using an alias and responded. "Oh nothing, just this little situation that happened last night."

Miko's blue eyes gazed at Sakura for a moment. A smile graced her bronze features and she laughed again, pointing an accusing finger at the woman next to her. "It was a boy wasn't it! Your cheeks are so red you couldn't have written it on your face to make it more obvious!"

Sakura's face darkened more and she turned away, rubbing furiously at the plate in her hand with the drying cloth. "No, it doesn't."

"Whatever you say Choko." Miko's eyes sparkled with amusement as her new friend's actions. It _so _had something to do with a guy; there was no mistaking that, but she decided not to push the subject any further although it would be fun to see how dark her face would glow with embarrassment.

Sakura hooked a few strands of pink hair behind her ear after putting the dry plate away. Was it really _that _obvious that she was having guy troubles? Well, it made sense; the kunoichi always had a hard time hiding her emotions when it came to romance. That wasn't important right now; she had to get back to her teammates and inform them of what she had found out.

The Leaf ninja excused herself from their duties and disappeared around the corner before Miko could ask where she was going. The first place she would check would be the room they were given and if they weren't there, she would just have to scour the area. Sakura had to find out if they learned anything with the help of Kiba and Akamaru.

"Stupid Kiba," she muttered while walking quickly toward their quarters. "He's such a freaking idiot!"

Her anger mounted again at that mutt's audacity. Seriously, he had the _nerve_ to try inappropriate things on her? Well Sakura wasn't going to accept that at all. You didn't do that kind of stuff unless you were in love or at least dating! Well, that was the modest thing to do anyway.

Sakura stopped in front of the door, her heart starting to beat faster. She could tell that all of her comrades were there, including that molester Kiba. He was the last person she wanted to be around.

_Stop it_, Sakura thought with annoyance. _I will not let him get the best of me._

Finding new confidence, the young woman pushed the door open and found the three males inside. Naruto sat cross-legged on the wood floor. He gazed up at her and smiled. "Didja find out anything Sakura?"

"Yeah I did." The female sat down next to her best friend while Sai put away his paints and Kiba stood across from them, arms folded over his chest. Sakura did her best to ignore him, but Akamaru was a different story. The canine bounded towards her and rubbed his head against her cheek before licking her. A giggle escaped her throat. "Come on boy, I have to tell them what I found out."

The white dog licked her hand and lay next to her, placing his large head in her lap. Sakura stroked his soft fur and began explaining what she and Miko had talked about. The expression on Sai's pale face was one of concentration. It looked like something she had said caught his attention.

His opaque gaze looking over his team, Sai said, "Everything is pointing towards our client, but something still doesn't seem quite right. Lady Hisa told everyone to leave for the festival, which does make her seem like the one who had killed him; however, Hisa's chakra does not have the feel of one who is a ninja. It's too weak. How would she be able to take out her husband without any jutsu?"

"That's easy," Kiba scoffed. "What if she had someone _else _tire him out enough so she could deliver the final blow?"

Sakura nodded. "That would make sense, but who would it have been?"

"Arghh!" Naruto whined. "This is so confusing!"

"We've hit a wall so far," Sai responded, ignoring Naruto's outburst. "Let's find Hisa and see if there is anything else she might be able to tell us. Perhaps we can convince her to let us speak with Hisako. If she thinks he's the one who killed her husband, he would be the next best option to speak to and gather information on."

The four ninja and dog exited the room in order to find Hisa. Akamaru followed her scent, leading them outdoors. Sakura still tried to pretend that Kiba wasn't there, but it was somewhat hard when he kept staring at her. She had a feeling that he was doing it just so she would say something to him. Well, she wasn't going to give in that easily.

"How long do you plan on ignoring me?" the Inuzuka questioned, locking his hands behind the back of his head. "I said I was sorry."

Angry viridian eyes turned to glare at Kiba. "_You think 'sorry' will get you off the hook for what you did?"_

Naruto gazed back at them; his expression turned hard. "Did what?"

"I don't think it's any of your business!" Kiba snapped.

Naruto growled, raising a fist at the other male. "I'm gettin' tired of you saying that to me! Say it again and I'll kick your ass!"

"Oh yeah? I-"

The brunette paused for a moment when Akamaru began to bark. Moving quickly, he was next to his dog's side. Akamaru growled. "You smell that?"

"Yeah," Kiba responded quietly. "That's the same scent of that blood in the room. It's nearby."

The two bounded off into the woods with Naruto, Sakura, and Sai hot on their trail. They jumped over fallen logs and plowed through bushes in order to keep up with owner and pet. Soon the sound of rushing water reached their ears and they came to a clearing. A man was sitting at the edge of the rushing water, his back to them. Long grey hair cascaded down his back in waves, the light from the sun making it look silver. He slowly turned to them and surprisingly, he was a young looking man despite his grey hair. Tree green eyes looked at them calmly, not surprised at all to see them.

Standing to his feet, he smiled and asked, "You four are not from here are you?"

"Who the hell are you?" Kiba demanded, completely ignoring the man's question.

He laughed and continued gazing at them coolly. "I am Masashi Yoshida. Now will you tell me who you are? I can tell by your accent that you are not Cloud villagers."

Sakura's eyebrows furrowed. Did he just say his last name was Yoshida? That was Lady Hisa and Lord Katsuo's last name. Was he possibly related to them? Sakura asked him and Masashi chuckled again.

"You seem set on not telling me who you are. I'm already aware that my sister-in-law has hired you to find out who killed my brother."

"Katsuo had a brother?" Naruto asked incredulously. "Hisa-san didn't say anything about you."

Masashi rubbed a hand along his arm and up into his purple kimono. A frown crossed his placid features. "Of course she wouldn't. She never was fond of me after all."

"Forget all of that!" Kiba exclaimed. "Care to explain why you smell like the blood from the room Katsuo was killed in?"

Akamaru started to growl while Masashi continued to keep his composure, dark green eyes sparkling with amusement. "Simple." He reached into his kimono and the ninja immediately got ready for combat, causing the male to shake his head at them. He pulled out a kunai carved with extensive designs. "I discovered this in my brother's room. I, after all, was the one who found him dead."

Sakura studied the man in front of her, fists still raised for battle. Now they had another possible suspect and evidence to further their investigation. That was a good thing, but she wondered why he would hold on to something like that and Sai asked before she could. Masashi responded that the kunai had been a gift he gave his brother. He elaborated on how much Katsuo liked and often used it during sparring practices. He felt that it had a connection to his brother and wanted to hold onto it because of that.

"Wait a sec," Kiba interrupted. "Let me see that kunai. It might still have the scent of someone else on it."

Masashi held out his hand and Akamaru moved forward to sniff it. After a few moments, the dog turned to his owner. "There is another faint scent other than blood and this human on it."

Kiba relayed the message to his teammates and Akamaru led the way on follow the new scent.

"Just a moment."

The Leaf ninjas turned to look at the tall male who was still smiling at them. "It is clear who killed by brother. I would have no motive, as I am an illegitimate child and have no rights to my family's power. Bring them to justice."

* * *

Finally, the group of Konoha shinobi was on their way home that afternoon, justice being served. It turned out that Hisoka's was the other scent on the weapon; he however was not the one who administered the killing blow. It had been Hisa. The two were working together in order to bring down her husband, but things backfired for Hisa when Hisoka refused to take her as his wife like he had promised when he became lord. Hisa believed that it would have been her word against his and decided she would pin the entire murder her new lover.

It turned out a ninja had been hired to tire out Lord Katsuo because neither Hisoka nor Hisa had ninja abilities. They couldn't trust any of the ninjas in their village to keep quiet about them wanting to kill the leader so they paid someone from another village to take care of what they needed.

The way Hisa had confessed came off as humorous to Sakura. After speaking with Hisoka once they caught up with him, he denied playing a part in the murder and insisted that he believed Hisa had planned it. He even said that he had seen her writing the death threat. It started turning into a blame game because the deceased Lord's wife claimed that Hisoka was the one that wrote it. Sai had a hunch that they were in it together and when they spoke to them at the same time, Kiba lost his patience.

The shinobi turned to the timid looking woman and yelled at her to stop lying and tell the truth. He told her that all the evidence pointed towards her and Hisoka so she might as well come clean and see if their village would opt not to kill her for what she did. Hisa cringed as Akamaru began to growl at her, baring his fangs menacingly. She broke under the pressure and confessed to everything, even about her being in love with Hisoka.

The council member tried to continue his bluff about not playing any part in the murder, but Sakura informed him from the way his chakra was fluctuating, she knew he was lying. It was a good thing Shizune had taught her that little trick. She then told Hisa that she knew she wasn't pregnant, but the older woman insisted that she was and began listing the side affects of pregnancy she had been experiencing and showed Sakura her expanding belly. Turned out that had a condition called pseudocyesis or false pregnancy. It was caused usually by a strong emotional conflict, usually when a woman had an extreme desire to become pregnant or fear of becoming pregnant. The body simulated pregnancy, but lacked an actual fetus. Hisa was devastated when she found out mainly because it was supposed to have been Hisoka's child. Sakura was sure she was planning on using the child as leverage to get what she wanted.

While they moved through the chilly afternoon, Sakura was honestly glad to be heading home. It wasn't that she missed it or anything; being a ninja meant spending time away from Konoha, but she was tired of being in the same vicinity as Kiba. The kunoichi was still angry with him for the stunt he tried to pull, but it was raging anymore, only smoldering a little. Still, she didn't want anything to do with him right now. He was just so brash and down right rude. Sakura didn't expect him to ask her when she would stop ignoring him either. That had not only rekindled her anger, but it surprised her. Kiba wasn't the type to beat around the bush, a trait that was good to have, but was annoying at the same time.

"Let's get water for the night," Sai called, taking off in a different direction. "Sunset is in about four hours so let's continue traveling after this."

The others nodded and followed him. The rosette moved away from her male counterparts and sat down in front of the river. This was the same one they camped nearby and she enjoyed the water here. It had a crisp, clean taste to it, not something she could say about all the water she had to drink on missions.

Opening her canteen, Sakura drank the little bit of water that was left and then began to refill it.

Kiba watched the female's every move: the way her fingertips played with the surface of the water after filling her canteen and how she pulled her red jacket tighter around her body. She was beautiful to him no matter what she did and once again, he had gone and screwed it up.

Akamaru whined to get his master's attention. "You need to go apologize..._again_. Human females are so complicated."

"Tell me about it," Kiba said quietly, making his way over to the woman he continually pissed off. He took a deep breath and moved beside her, kneeling down. "Hey."

Sakura glared at him, jade orbs smoldering with her annoyance. "Hey? You think-"

"I'm sorry," Kiba interrupted. He turned to look at her and said, "I didn't mean to take things too far for you. I won't happen again alright?"

She frowned at him while placing her canteen back in its holder. "You're great at pissing me off."

Kiba laughed in response, running as clawed hand through his messy brown hair. "Same goes for you. No woman has ever stood up to me before."

"Get used to it."

The two remained silent, enjoying the biting chill of the wind while Sakura gazed over at Sai and Naruto. It looked like they were talking about something and whatever it was, Sai had angered the blonde. That was nothing new and Sakura chuckled a little bit at them.

"You know," Kiba started, sitting down and leaning back. "I like the way you kiss."

The woman blushed furiously at his words and began twisting her clothing. "Shut up."

The Inuzuka felt his blood starting to boil when he saw the blush creep over her cheeks. She really was innocent; it was kind of cute, but exciting at the same time. He planned to be her first for everything; it was clear that Sakura had never made out with someone before. She was a little timid and clumsy at first, but she was a fast learner and Kiba couldn't wait to feel those lips against his again. When they got back, it would be time to hold up their ends of the bet.

* * *

**I wanted to go ahead and cut the mission scene short because it was starting to run to long and stray from Kiba and Sakura. We'll see more into them next chapter.**


End file.
